Thursday, December 1

Written? Kitten!

When I was flat on my face and lacking motivation to write, my friend Ashley showed this to me. Say goodbye to Write or DIE and indulge in cute kitties.

So many times, people have told me to reward myself for every certain amount of words that I write. They insist it will help to propel me through my word count. Well, it doesn’t work. I manage to hold out for one or two thousand words, I reward myself with something sugary and then…I keep rewarding myself. Goodbye words, hello chocolate!

What I need is something that motivates me and rewards me at the same time. What on earth could that be? Well, there is one thing that I really do like and that is cats. I love kitties and how can you not love the sight of an adorable kitten?

Written? Kitten! is a simple enough online application that was created by Australians Skud and Emily. It keeps track of your word count as you write and you can set it so that it gives you a new kitten picture ever 100, 200, 500 or 1000 words.

Can someone get my a sign that says, ‘Will Write for Kittens?’ because that is just how this application makes me feel. During NaNoWriMo, I did not use Write or DIE once. Don’t get me wrong, it is a great application but it can seem a little too straining. Once I had been introduced to Written? Kitten! however, I was hooked and I was being productive once more.

Of course, not everyone likes kittens. I think that these people are crazy understand that some folks are “dog people” and so there is a solution just for them. Written? Puppy! is the same online application, tweaked by Andy Hannon to give you a new picture of a puppy every 100, 200, 500 or 1000 words instead.

I have not tested Written? Puppy! out much myself, since I was so hung up on the original Written? Kitten! but I am a lover of puppies too, so I will be doing that soon enough.

Whether you like pups or kits, this might just be the solution for you, to get your fingers tapping away at that keyboard and get your productivity levels way up. Let’s get writing! Those little fluffy critters are waiting.